ICAI follow-up review of 2019-20 reports

Outstanding issues

This year we rated all three reviews being followed up for the first time as ‘inadequate’.

• How UK aid learns: There is potential for FCDO to take on a positive coordination and standard-setting role across government and for transparency to be increased, but until the future of the Aid Management Platform is clear, and FCDO evaluation plans and the new UK aid strategy are in place, we will not know if this potential will be realised.
• The changing nature of UK aid in Ghana: A combination of an initially vague response to some of ICAI’s recommendations, delays due to contextual challenges, and a reluctance to share documentation or briefings on ongoing strategic work by FCDO, such as the Africa strategy and the delivery framework, means that it has not been possible to verify reported improvements.
• The UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative: Important strategic work is under way which could amount to a strong response to ICAI’s recommendations and underlying concerns. However, as ICAI has not seen the planned PSVI strategy, key performance indicators or monitoring, evaluation and learning framework, or received information on the budget for PSVI-related activities, we are not yet able to conclude that the government response has been adequate.

We will return to all three reviews again next year. We will also return to the maternal health review again for a third time to review the Ending Preventable Deaths Action Plan and the Health Systems Strengthening Position paper, which are yet to be published.